Gig Harbor Woman Determined to Walk Again After Belfair Crash

Megan Blunk is putting her life back together after a 2008 motorcycle accident.

By Charlee Glock-Jackson (Gig Harbor Life),Scott Turner

January 5, 2010

Megan Blunk is a fighter.

In July of 2008 she was involved in a serious motorcycle crash that nearly took her life and left her partially paralyzed.

Now, she’s fighting for normalcy ?? her new self.

Blunk, 20, of Gig Harbor, has overcome challenges most people can’t imagine, even in their worst nightmares.

After three major surgeries, many of her doctors said she would never walk again.

“The doctors never said anything good,” Blunk said. “They either said I was never going to walk again or they said nothing at all. Nothing positive.”

But Blunk has different ideas.

“You go home in a wheelchair and you see all your trophies and everything around you. Everything that you used to do,” she said. “It was really hard.”

But people started telling her that she was strong. That she was a motivation and an inspiration.

And it sunk in.

“Eventually, I was like ? ?You’re going to do this Megan and you’re going to be a real inspiration.’ If they think I’m an inspiration, I want to be an inspiration. I want to feel strong and actually feel good about it. Not feel fake,” Blunk said.

And, little by little, she’s putting her body ? and her life ? back together.

Her goal is to walk again. And to run.

She joined the YMCA. She started playing wheelchair basketball and working out all day, day after day.

Gradually, she’s gotten to the point where she uses her walker more than her wheelchair. “I try not to use the wheelchair as much. I use it if I go to the mall or a place where it would take me too long,” she said. Otherwise, she uses the walker.

“I can walk without a walker, too. But I can’t really balance because I have drop foot ? my left foot is stuck down. But my right foot came back flat and I don’t have a brace on it any more. My right foot is really making progress.”

Recently, Blunk joined a new Gig Harbor gym called CrossFit. Her trainer, David Herron, is co-owner of the gym. Herron had heard about Blunk’s accident and wanted to work with her.

“Megan has shown nothing but strong commitment and great coachability,” Herron said. “She’s the type of athlete I love to train. Not just because she’s got so many gifts, but because she’s able to overcome adversity. She’s proven that on her own, because she got here.”

Herron’s plan is to push the paralysis out, Blunk said. “Start up and push it down and make the thoracic part of my spine really strong. I want my spine strong so that we can get the signals and everything through there so it’s stronger where it was broken.”

So far, Herron said, it’s worked. “She’s been able to secure her own strong muscular development through the work she’s done to keep her upper body strong,” he said. “She’s been able, on her own, to start that momentum.”

“I’m just staying positive and believing. You just have to believe, you know. If you waste your energy being negative and upset and mad, that wastes a lot.

Blunk said that she will continue to surround her self with good people and push herself in healing and making herself stronger.

“To me, a successful story is someone who’s moving on with their life, making the best of it. If I can overcome this, I feel like I can overcome anything,” she said with a smile.